I can still hear my brother’s voice. I was a teenager doing something stupid (as usual,) and my older brother who was clearly annoyed by my actions would say: “Craig, how can you be so smart but have no common sense?” It turns out that age has not improved my fortune. Since I turned 40, I’m amazed at my lack of common sense and at how little I seem to know!

John Buskin turned 70 years old and wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal entitled The Older I Get, the Less I Seem to Know. It was a humorous assessment of how age proves to us just how little we actually know. But before I get to Buskin’s summary, let me tell you about two inspirational men, Cal and Justin.

New Hope’s auditorium had about 150 people gathered. It was an eclectic mix of people who gathered to honor Cal at his funeral. Cal was born with an incurable disease which led to his bones deteriorating. As Cal aged, he was required to wear leg braces which slowed his mobility. Cal was often in pain and had every excuse to lay low and take it easy. Yet, every week Cal made his way to the church office, sat at a table and prepared our “friendship registers” for Sunday. Cal would methodically tear out old sheets, put new dates on the next page, remove registers that were beat up, and help New Hope get ready for our next public worship service. The irony is: very few of the 1,000 people at New Hope knew Cal, and yet every Sunday when the register was passed, and each hand touched the book, it was as if Cal was touching every person in the building. That is the way God sees greatness in his kingdom. Serving in obscurity and without recognition, yet greatly used by the King of Kings.

Cal was smart. But he was also a simple man. As we gathered at his funeral, he had specific messages he wanted delivered to his family. His voice from the grave was simple, yet profound:

To my son: You know where I am at.

To my daughter: I give you my Bible. It has the answers.

To everyone else: Be heaven ready.

It turns out that Cal was smart in the right things. He had common sense and loads of wisdom. His life had been transformed by the Living God.

Let me tell you about another man who inspires me. His name is Justin. He’s a child of the King. A son of the Most High God. He is dearly loved and highly valued to the Creator of the Universe. He’s a faithful servant in the local church, acting in the Promise, directing traffic at the church, singing in the choir last Sunday, and faithful in his worship. Whenever our church doors are open, Justin is usually there. He listens. He responds. He is one of the great joys I have of pastoring.

But at the heart level, Justin wrestles with a common human struggle, self-worth. It’s the same struggle a wealthy actor experiences when they gain a whole world of riches and yet feel so “empty.” It’s the same struggle an anorexic girl has when she looks at her frame in the mirror and all she sees is “fat.” It’s the same struggle a senior pastor has who may have positional authority, and yet all he sees is “failure.”

Justin was born in Houston Texas to an unwed African American woman who left him at the hospital. Justin was born with a disability, which led him from the hospital, to a medical clinic, then to 2 foster care homes, and eventually, to being adopted at age 4. His entire life, Justin has struggled to rediscover his worth and identity in Jesus.

Yet, God has given Justin sincerity of heart and a genuine love for Jesus. As we sat over coffee this week, we laughed, shared stories, and talked about things of God. His infectious smile encouraged me. Just prior to singing with over 100 other voices in the choir last Sunday, Justin wrote a prayer on our Facebook page: “I’m so excited for Sunday singing with over 100 voices. It’s going to be amazing! But the thing I’m most happy for is the fact that I may not be book smart, yet God still calls me very good.”

It turns out that Justin is smart at the right things. He knows who God is and who God created him to be. In the midst of his common struggle with value and worth, Justin is highly treasured by the Lord of Glory, who does not look at outward appearance but looks at the heart. And when the Lord looks at Cal and Justin, He sees men who are rich in faith and mighty in deed.

Back to the Wall Street Journal. John Buskin commiserated over the fact he seems to be getting dumber with age, forgetting even simple day-to-day things. His ability to do crossword puzzles has decreased. He has no familiarity with the current celebrities. Technology has outpaced him, making him feel altogether ignorant.

Buskin ended the article this way: “Maybe I can learn to be smart enough to know that it doesn’t really matter that I can’t keep up with the pace of change. Maybe the crossword puzzle is just something I used to do more easily. Maybe I’m not missing anything by not knowing pop culture…Maybe I don’t need to know how the latest technology works. In other words, maybe I don’t have to feel so dumb, if I just change my definition of wisdom. If I can do that, I may just be smarter than ever.”

Maybe we need to change our definition of wisdom to how God sees it. Maybe we should be more like Cal, simple, yet profound. Maybe we should be more like Justin, Smart in the right areas and dearly loved by God. And maybe we should believe what the Bible says:

Consider your calling; not many of you were wise…not many were powerful…not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish…God chose what is weak…God chose what is low…so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1 Cor. 1)

Every day at our office our staff prays at 11am. When Cal was alive and doing the register books, he would slide over in his chair to pray with us. The prayers of this simple, yet profound man were always tender, often tearful, and lathered with wisdom. Cal would pray something like this:

God, thank you so much. Thank you for giving me strength so I could get here today. Thank you for giving me purpose to live and letting me serve you. You have blessed me with so much. Amen.

Simple. Profound. It turns out that this is the type of faith God honors. My friends, be smart in the right things! Be heaven ready! You are highly treasured and deeply valued.

You are loved,
Craig Trierweiler